Canada Remapped: How the Partition of Quebec Will Reshape the Nation

J.L. Granatstein is a history professor at York University and author of
War and Peacekeeping and For Better or For Worse.

If Quebec becomes independent, what will this do to the existing
boundaries of Canada? Is Quebec entitled to all its present
territory—and if not, what areas might be considered as Canadian
enclaves? And what about the Natives? Tough questions, all of these,
especially as Quebec separatist leaders like Jacques Parizeau appear to
assume that every inch of territory now in the province of Quebec is and
should remain part of any independent state. Ottawa journalist Scott
Reid took on this subject, carefully examined foreign precedents
(Ireland, Yugoslavia, Panama, and Switzerland), and here proposes some
solutions, mostly on a Swiss model. Reid believes that provinces have
the right to leave Confederation, but he does not believe that a
province necessarily has the right to take with it substantial groups of
citizens who would wish to remain part of Canada. To Reid, partition
would be the best course, and he carefully maps out which portions of an
independent Quebec might yet remain Canadian. This is a carefully argued
book, the best and most rational to appear on this subject.